Improvement in methods of making tea and coffee



I. MILLER.

METHOD OF MAKING TEA AND CQFFEE. NoH'IZSQQ-B'O. Patented May 2, 1876.

N. PETERS, PROTO-UTHOGRAPHER, WASHINGTON. D O,

UITED STATES JONATHAN MILLER, or HIMRODS, NEW reek.

IMPROVEMENT IN METHODS OF MAKlNG EA AND COFFEE.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 176,980, dated May 2, 1876; application filed March 12, 1873. l

To all whom it mag concern: v is designed to rest upon the top of an urn or Be it known that I, JONATHAN MILLER, of other suitable receptacle for the coffee, so as Himrods, Yates county, in the State of New to act as the cover to the said urn. York, have invented a new and Improved In the ordinary methods of making coffee Method of Making Tea and Coffee and I do the ground material is placed loosely in a cofhereby declare the following to be a full, clear, fee-chamber, and the hot water poured thereand exact description of the same, reference on. Now, the coffee being unconfined and free being had to the accompanying drawing, form-' to expand, it siniplyincreases in bulk, while ing a part of this specification, in whichthe little interstices and channels between the Figure 1 is a vertical section. Fig. 2 is a grains remain open and act as conduits, down Vertical section of the water-receptacle and which the water rapidly flows, carrying the coffeeholder, with .the cup of the latter define dust and pulverized portions of the cot tached. fee, the result being a decoction which is not The object of this invention is to provide a sufficiently impregnated with the strength and newmethod of preparing decoctions or infuaroma of the cofl'ee, and which is of a dull sions of tea, coffee, &c.; and it consists in the opaque color, in consequence of the fine dust method of filling a tight and unyielding chamand sediment which has washed through the her full of the ground cofl'ee, or tea, and then interstices; 1

passingthe hot water through the same,where- By using a tight and unyielding chamber, by the expansion'of the grains consequent upand filling the same full of the ground mateon the absorptiorfof the water produces a conrial, it will be seen that, as soon as the water' siderable pressure, which in the unyielding commences to pass through, the grains exchamber, fills up the little interstices or chan- 'pand, and, as the receptacle cannot yield, the nels between the grains, thereby preventing result is the exertion of an expansive force, the fine dust or pulverized portions of the cofwhich, reacting upon the grains, drives them fee from being washed through, and compelcloser together, and shuts up the interstices ling the water to permeate the pores of the or channels between the grains. coffee-grains, the said expansion in the filled The advantages arising from thisare several chamber acting in the nature of a press, so in number: Thewaterdoesnotwash down rapthat the bulk of' the cofl'ee is held as in a solid idly through theinterstices, but moves slowly mass. The mechanical pressure serves to hold through the pores of the grains, thoroughly thesmallparticles,whichareordinarily washed permeating and dissolving the essences and through, and the liquid, being made to strain aroma of the coffee. The pressure exerted is through the pores of the coffee-grains, comes such that the bulk of coifee is held as in a sinout a perfectly clear and transparent beverage, gle mass, and, the particles of dust and sediof a rich wine color, entirely free from sediment are held mechanically frombeing washed ment and cloudiness. down; and the interstices being closed, and the In carrying out my invention I employ a reliquid being compelled to pass through the ceptacle, O, for the water, and a holder, E, for pores, the bulk of the coffee acts as a clarify the coffee or other material, The said holder ing-filter. is attached tothe water-receptacle, and is sep- It will be remembered that the coffee-holder arated therefrom by a perforated strainer, f. must be filled full in order to operate upon the The coffee-holder also has a detachable cup above-described principle; and, 'in order to portion, 9, which has a perforated strainer, g, withstand the pressure incident to the expanin its bottom, which said cup portion is made sion, the strength of the coffee-holder must be to fit upon the shell f attached to the waterrelatively increased in proportion to the inreceptacle, and is rigidly fastened to the same creased bulk of coffee when larger-sized deby bayonet slots and studs, or other devices, vices are employed. 7 which will not permit the cup to give to the Another advantage arising out of the comexpansion of the coffee. The device, as thus pression of the coffee in the holder is that, described, is provided with a flange, B, which when the water is poured in upon the holder,

' the grains do not, as in ordinary cases, rise to the top of the water and fall back, nor do the vapors of the same condense and fall back, which agitation of the grains and condensation of the vapors have the efi'ect to destroy, in part, the genuine flavor of the cofi'ee.

I am aware of the fact that coffee-pots have been constructed in which the ground coffee has been held down in the holder by a weight; and that an expanding coffee-holder has also been employed to yield to the increased bulk of the cofi'ee when saturated with the water.

In manufacturing cofl'ee by my method, however, the exertion of force requisite to compress the grains and close the interstices is such as to render any avoidable weight or spring wholly impracticable for the purpose, the only way to secure the full benefit of the principle involved being to utilize all of the expansive force, by causing it to react in an unyielding chamber, instead of allowing the cofi'ee-holder to adapt itself to the increased volume of the expanded grains.

I therefore disclaim the cases above referred to, and limit my invention to the terms of the claim.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, isl The herein-described method of making coffee and other decoctions from the ground or loose material, by filling a tight and unyielding chamber full of the said material and then passing the water through the same, whereby the expansion of the grainsisutilized to close the interstices between the same and compel the water to pass through the pores, the pressure also preventing the grains from rising up in the water-chamber, substantially as described.

JONATHAN MILLER.

Witnesses:

EDWARD WILHELM, JOHN J. BONNER. 

